


Blue Waffles and Forest Green Folders

by Harlow R (harlowrd)



Category: Parks and Recreation, Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-01
Updated: 2016-02-01
Packaged: 2018-05-17 13:11:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5870917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/harlowrd/pseuds/Harlow%20R
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Annabeth & Percy both work at the Parks & Rec department in Pawnee, IN. Originally requested by romanitas on tumblr.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Blue Waffles and Forest Green Folders

* * *

By the time Percy was finally ready to go home, it felt like the entire building was dark and deserted. Staying so long after hours was definitely not his style, much less on a bureaucratic government job he first got out of pure laziness, but it turned out even a bureaucratic government job had its consequences, and when you procrastinated doing your work for an entire month you ended up having to stay until eleven o’clock on a Friday night to do it.

_Make that midnight_ , Percy thought with a sigh as he glanced at his watch. _And I haven’t eaten since lunch!_ he reminded himself miserably. And there wouldn’t exactly be a lot of restaurants open at this time – this was Pawnee, after all. Percy supposed a snack from the vending machine would have to hold him over until he got home to fix himself something. Nodding wryly to himself, he turned right and headed for the only functioning vending machine in the entire floor.

As he turned a corner, a sliver of light caught his eye. Wondering who else could be lazy enough to be in the same predicament as him, Percy followed the light until he spotted its source: Annabeth’s office. _Figures._

He saw her before she saw him; tendrils of curly blond hair slipping free of the messy ponytail on the back of her head, dark circles starting to appear beneath her eyes, and a rather obsessive quality to the way she was looking at her computer, lips moving as if she was talking to herself (he didn’t doubt she was). For a minute, he seized the opportunity her distraction provided and indulged the desire to stare at her, taking in the little details that tended to get lost in the day to day of government work, even when they worked together. Plus if she caught him staring she’d probably become embarrassed and take it out on him by snapping at him (or worse), which was never a pleasant experience. The Parks and Rec Deputy Director was smart and competent – and beautiful, but she was also _intense_. 

Stepping closer to the open door, Percy cleared his throat and knocked on the door frame. Annabeth looked up, startled, then relaxed as she recognized him. “What are you doing here? It’s almost midnight.”

Percy smirked at her complete lack of self-awareness – after all, she was there, too, and offered no explanation whatsoever as to her presence. Not that he needed one. “I was working. I’m done now.”

She threw him an incredulous look. “You? Working? After hours? On a Friday night?”

“Well, I had a lot of work built up from the last month.”

“Ah, that definitely explains it.” When he made no move to leave, she added: “Well, good night.”

He walked in instead, and sat on the chair next to her desk. She sighed. “Has anyone ever told you that you’re a workaholic, Annabeth?”

“You. Several times,” she replied while leafing through several boring-looking documents.

“Well, you are,” he said, smiling.

“Shall I remind you that it’s my ‘workaholic’ tendencies,” she said, making air quotes around the word, “that allow us to complete any of the brilliant projects we undertake?”

“Hey!” Percy protested. “I contribute.”

“I never said you didn’t, but let’s be honest here, you need a lot of pushing.”

“A little,” he corrected.

“A _lot_ ,” Annabeth insisted.

“Fine,” he grumbled. She was right, of course; Percy could be very creative and had had some great ideas in the past, but he would’ve accomplished exactly none of them if Annabeth hadn’t been there to push him to do it every step of the way. The truth was that, as capable as they might have been apart, they worked best together, and pretty much everyone there knew it. Their brainstorming sessions were famously epic. “What exactly are you doing right now, anyway?” Their most recent project, The Harvest Festival, had been enormously successful and to be honest Percy was still riding that high, not even thinking about what should come next. He figured he’d worry about that later – or Annabeth would, anyway. It looked like he underestimated her obsession with work again.

She turned to look at him. “What do you mean, ‘what am I doing’? We just finished the most successful project of our careers – we need to start thinking about ideas for what we’re going to do next! We can’t let the Harvest Festival hype die down! We need a brilliant idea – _now_!” By the time she finished talking, her eyes had taken on a weird glassy look, and Percy wondered how much sleep she’d had over the last few days.

“Okay, but how exactly do you plan to accomplish that by sitting in your office at midnight and staring at that boring stuff?”

Annabeth shot him a half-hearted glare. “I was looking for my forest green idea folder. I have no idea where it is. I just sat here a minute to relax while I wait for Piper to look for it at her house. I may have forgotten it there.”

Percy chose to make no comment about what she apparently found relaxing (bureaucratic work? Seriously?). Instead, he eyed the many “idea folders” behind her desk, several of which were green. “I’m guessing it’s not any of those behind you, there?”

“I said _forest_ green, Percy. Don’t be dense.”

_Right._ Percy smirked. Not for the first time, he wondered if it was weird that he sometimes thought it was cute when she insulted him. A lot of the time, in fact. He just couldn’t take her seriously when she did it. He cleared his throat. “You’re telling me you’re making Piper look for your folder when she could be sleeping?”

Annabeth’s eyes betrayed her guilt. “It’s important!”

“Come on. It couldn’t wait until tomorrow?”

She drew breath to reply, but he interrupted her with a look. Instead she looked away, pouting. “Well, maybe it could have, but I…I guess I didn’t think.”

“Wow. _You_ didn’t think? That has to be a first.”

“Shut up, Percy,” she grumbled, but she was almost smiling. It was one of Percy’s favorite looks on her, if only because he loved the challenge of getting her to smile all the way. He was about to try to convince her to call it a night when her phone rang.

Annabeth jumped at the sound. “Ah! It’s Piper!” she said, relief evident on her features as she picked up her phone. “Hello? You found it?” She turned to smile at Percy, and he smiled back at her. So maybe it hadn’t been him that had made her smile this time, but she looked lovely anyway. “Oh, thank goodness. Thank you, Piper. You beautiful, fearless, wakeful badger!” Percy smirked as he imagined Piper’s reaction on the other end. “Okay, okay. But you are! You’re so beautiful and I love you! Okay, bye.” 

“So she found it, huh.”

“Yeah, but she said I’m only allowed to pick it up tomorrow because she’s going to bed now.” She sounded genuinely disappointed about that, which made Percy shake his head. Then he remembered his plan.

“Well, looks like there isn’t anything else for you to do here tonight. How about we just call it a night?”

“I suppose,” she sighed, turning off her computer. _Well, that was easier than expected. She must really be tired._ Percy stood as Annabeth shouldered her bag and picked up her coat. “We still need a new idea though.”

“We’ll come up with something. We always do,” he reassured her. She turned off the lights in her office and closed the door behind her. “We could…go camping or something,” he suggested.

“Camping?” Even by the dim hallway lights he could tell she was screwing up her nose in that way that always made him focus on how cute she looked instead of on the fact that she was rejecting his ideas. 

“Well, yeah. Like a work retreat.”

“Hmm. That’s not a bad idea, actually,” she contemplated. “I know! I’ll make it mandatory and the entire department will have to be there! That way we’re guaranteed to have at least one usable idea.”

Percy touched her elbow and they stopped walking. “Actually…I was thinking it could be something just for us.”

Annabeth’s wide eyes reflected the lights. “Just…just for us? For the two of us, you mean?”

“Yeah,” he smirked. “You and me. Just…us.”

“Um,” she stammered. He leaned in and kissed her.

At first she didn’t respond, and for a moment Percy cursed himself for possibly ruining the best professional relationship he’d ever had – not to mention one of his closest friendships. But then her fingers made their way up his neck and scalp and her lips returned the pressure, opening to allow his tongue to slide sensually against hers. It was several moments before they parted for breath, foreheads together and his hands on her waist. When Percy opened his eyes, hers were wide and vulnerable, and it hit him how deeply she’d let him in…and how huge his responsibility was. He smiled and gave her reassuring kisses on her lips, cheek, nose; he nuzzled her temple and caressed the back of her neck. _I want you_ , he hoped to communicate, _I’m not going to leave you._ When he pulled back, she was smiling shyly, and he gave himself a mental high-five.

He smiled back. “Wanna get something to eat?”

“Pretty sure JJ’s is closed.”

“I can make you waffles.”

“With whipped cream?”

“Sure. They only come in blue though.”

Annabeth threaded her fingers through his. “Deal.”

* * *


End file.
